Criticism In Whitman's Leaves Of Grass By Walt Whitman

American poet, Walt Whitman explores the connection between the concept of the nation and the poet as a means of further establishing the national identity of the United States of America. The preface to his collection of poetry, entitled Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855 merely 79 years after the United States was founded acts as a reinforcement of nationalist sensibilities that work to define what the American is on a internal and international scale. Within this text Whitman creates an inventory of the attributes that are defining of the poet as an individual, emphasizing the positive qualities as being linked to their vocation. Described as being equal to the average citizen, the poet is a symbol of the American, reinforcing the

This list of qualities that define the greatest poet maintain that the poet does not know “pettiness or triviality” which creates an image in which the actions and work of the writer is defined through it’s importance in the subjects that are presented within their works. Whitman’s act of categorization creates a definition of the poet that portrays him as being wholly good and possessing the most important qualities that can be found in an individual. This is broadened to describe the American poet specifically in that they are known for their “generosity, affection, and for encouraging competitors” which reinforces the argument that they represent the icon of moral uprightness in

The poet is said to be one who can perceive the beauty of the world around them though it is argued, “men and women perceive the beauty…as well as he” (1318). In other words, the grand vision of the poet is not unique to their vocation but rather is a trait that is seen as well in the people of the United States, which creates an environment in which the vision through which both parties see the world is synonymous. Generalizing this equality and defining the poet as being “commensurate with a people” emphasizes the status of the poet further as being a symbol of the American (1316). Partnered with the argument that the poet is unsurpassed in greatness by any other individual, this pushes forth the idea that the people of the United States are the finest pin the world. As a result, the poet being seen as the average American creates a basis for which the rest of the world his placed below the United States on a hierarchy of being. Whitman constructs a characterization of the American citizen that all people should view as synonymous with the “greatest poet”, and the effect being that in the order of the universe they are at the